


Dead Rooks

by BigSlytherinMess



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Masters, Mistress, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Sort Of, Victoria - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 05:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigSlytherinMess/pseuds/BigSlytherinMess
Summary: . “I would like one too.”Albert cocked one graceful brunette brow, “A mistress?”“Of course not!”“Then what?”“A. . . A. . . A master.” Victoria eventually managed to get the words off of her tongue.





	Dead Rooks

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of history but also not at all x

**2nd July 1842.** Almost two months after the assassination attempt against the Queen. Victoria had laid in her bed for most of the time, mostly due to shock.

 

That is where she sat now, her brown hair falling past her shoulders as she sat in her thin nightdress. She blinked past tears in her eyes as she glared at  the man on the edge of her bed. She was stronger than that.

 

Her mouth opened after what seemed to be a long moment of silence, “Surely we can make everything. . . Work out?” she said, her voice catching.

 

Albert, her cousin- or should she say her husband, looked over at her with cold sad eyes. That is how he had always looked at her. It made Victoria's blood boil. “I see you not as a Wife, Victoria,” He murmured in an accented voice, “But as family. I love you, but as family would.”

 

“What about Vicky and Bertie?” She retorted, her heart clenching. However, she couldn't help agreeing with her cousin. When was the last time they had looked at each other like lovers? She shook her head slightly to clear it. “Bertie is so young- I can't be a mother alone!”

 

“You don't have to be.” Albert said quickly, his reassuring voice calming Victoria. She closed her eyes, breathing out a shaky, relieved breath. A tear fell down her porcelain cheek, as if it knew what would happen next.

 

“I will still be here. We will still produce heirs. I will still care for our children. But I will take up a mistress.”

 

Victoria, eyes still closed, felt the bed move as Albert moved farther onto it. He sat in front of her, and she moved up her small hand to his cheek before opening her eyes to him. “You _will_? Is there no asking me?” she whispered.

 

“. . . Well yes.” Albert chuckled, “These typically are private affairs, are they not?”

 

Victoria retracted her hand from his cheek, exasperated. “This is no laughing matter, Albert.” she said, curling her hand into a fist which she then placed on her lap. “I would like one too.”

 

Albert cocked one graceful brunette brow, “A mistress?”

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Then what?”

 

“A. . . A. . . A _master_.” Victoria eventually managed to get the words off of her tongue, “If you are to have a mistress, I would like a master.” She raised her head, “I have always prided us in how equal we seemed to be.”

 

Albert began to retreat back to the edge of the bed, and Victoria's eyes widened a fraction. She reached out her closed fist and opened it weakly, as if trying to hold onto whatever part of Albert she had left. It felt like the red string tying them together was unravelling. Was it ever even there in the first place?

 

Albert got up from the bed, bowed, and took Victoria's hand in his. “Farewell, your majesty.” He murmured before kissing the back of her hand, his eyes meeting hers.

 

Victoria smiled through the tears in her eyes, “Farewell dear Albert.”

 

* * *

 

The next day, the first thing she did was call for a trip to Brocket Hall. Her eyes were red from crying. _‘I have a cold!’_ She told all who asked. They all seemed to believe her- apart from perhaps Lehzen. But no one said anything else, which the Queen gladly appreciated.

 

Stepping off of her carriage felt like the most courageous thing she had ever done. In the back of her mind, a little Victoria was telling her to retreat- it hissed at her insides, biting and scratching at her throat. Perhaps it was Albert’s subconscious. He didn't seem pleased about her concept of a master, nor was he stupid; he knew exactly who she would go to.

 

 

“Lord M.”

 

Lord Melbourne looked back from where he stood over a plant. “Your majesty!” His smile, spread over a handsome weathered face, brought her back to her first year as Queen. Oh, how she had missed him. She shut the door to the garden, and Melbourne immediately took over a worried expression.

 

“Excuse me for asking ma'am, but are you feeling alright?” Melbourne turned away from his plants to face the Queen, his full attention on her, “Pardon me. It is just- you never close the door unless reminded.”

 

Victoria ignored the question as she walked forward through the plants. “Lord M.” she said, her eyes and smile bright as she stood up to him.

 

“Yes ma'am.” Melbourne responded.

 

“I wish to ask for advice.”

 

“You know that is what I am here for, ma'am.”

 

Melbourne noticed her red eyes, and his eyebrows furrowed farther. This newfound realisation made Victoria glance away from his piercing green gaze, suddenly nervous.

 

“Albert. . . Has asked to keep a mistress.” She murmured, her gaze at her feet.

 

Melbourne’s eyes held sympathy, even though Victoria could not see it. “And are you bothered by this?”

 

Victoria paused for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. “I don't think I do. In fact, I asked him if I could have a master.”

 

The Lord couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. He quickly regained his composure, and chuckled quietly. “That sounds very much like you ma'am.” He said quietly.

 

They stood in a silence which was surprisingly comfortable. It was like a big quilt wrapped around the two of them, a quilt of secrecy. However Victoria, never the more patient one, eventually got frustrated, and she rose her head defiantly, looking at Lord Melbourne with a new burning intensity that made Melbourne struggle to look away, despite how much he may have wanted to.

 

“Are you still a rook?” She murmured, watching with nervous satisfaction as his grey-green eyes widened a fraction.

 

Melbourne sighed, glancing away from her fire-like gaze, “Yes ma'am. I am.”

 

“Why?” Victoria asked. She was utterly confused, and despite realising how spoilt she sounded, she was not sure of what else to say.

 

Lord Melbourne let out another deep sigh and met her eyes again, only feeling slightly guilty at the betrayal in them. He took her small hands in his, and tried to ignore how warm it made him feel. “I am much too old for you-”

 

“I am sick of that excuse!” Victoria exclaimed. With a nervous glance back at the close garden door, she continued in a more hushed tone, “Your age does not matter to _me_. I have said it once and I will say it again, you are the only companion I could ever desire.”

 

“You are not thinking straight at this moment ma’am-”

 

“I am the _Queen_ , Lord Melbourne.” Victoria stuck her head up higher. Full of dignity. “Thinking straight is my _job._ ”

 

“Yes, that it certainly is.” Melbourne said quietly, defeated. He was so proud of her. She certainly had grown up in the past few years since her marriage.

 

“I care for you.” Victoria continued, stepping closer to the Lord and looking up with wide eyes and dilated pupils. She was no longer the innocent young girl Melbourne had first met. It made him feel less guilty when he placed his rough hand on her cheek.

 

“And I, you.” Melbourne caressed her cheek, his hand burning with the contact. They stood there, staring into each others eyes, saying all they could without words. Years of love and pain and want. 

 

Victoria leant into his hand. “What about the rooks?” She whispered, leaning closer to his face.

 

“Sod the rooks.” Melbourne muttered before giving in, pressing his lips against Victoria's.

 

Victoria smiled against his lips before reluctantly breaking away. She kept her face close as she looked into his eyes. He smiled at her, his laughter lines prominent. Somehow, this made her more sure of what she was going to say. She knew that Albert would never smile enough to get such joyful wrinkles in his future. “William Lamb, I love you.”

 

Melbourne leaned into her ear, “I love you too, Victoria.” he whispered, his warm breath tickling her and making her laugh softly.

 

Melbourne joined her in her quiet laughter as he moved his hands down onto her hips, gently pulling her small waist close to him. Victoria placed her hands along his neck and face as she leant in again to meet Melbourne for a more passionate kiss.

 

* * *

 

Victoria visited her master multiple times a week, and when she wasn't visiting him, she was writing to him. Albert never mentioned it, so she returned the favour and never asked about his own mistress. They lived happily, doing their duties.

 

Whether some of her nine children are Lord M’s, is none of anyone's business, Albert included.

 

* * *

 

 **24th November 1848.** Victoria lies beside his body, tears rolling down her cheeks. The rook is dead. And from then on, the Queen has to try and pretend that she did not die with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love Victoria and Lord M together, I feel like there is so much potential with them!
> 
> (I don't have a beta so if you see a mistake, please tell me <3 Thank u lov u)


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